Unemployment

[FionaH]

... you need to get British people buying British goods, not Chinese goods

When they are as cheap as chinese goods................

[Two_Sheds]

When they are as cheap as chinese goods................

Chinese goods won't be that cheap for long. As the Chinese economy prospers, and they start to demand higher wages, better living conditions... well, I s'pose there's always the Inuit to exploit next

[bubblewrap]

People buy Chinese/foreign because it is cheaper but not better(never mind the quality feel the width) problem is now it is not that easy to find British produced goods.

[Two_Sheds]

it is not that easy to find British produced goods.

We make sure to buy British bacon, (and other meat), beer , brewing my own wine but he likes Spanish... Just bought VERY local (v.expensive) sofa ... his car is German (they are the best) and my bike was handmade in Britain ... but struggling now ... even his footy team is 60% African ...?

Come on you lot: if you want British jobs, you gotta buy British goods

[binley100]

So what do we still manufacture in Great Britain ?

[bubblewrap]

We make sure to buy British bacon, (and other meat), beer , brewing my own wine but he likes Spanish... Just bought VERY local (v.expensive) sofa ... his car is German (they are the best) and my bike was handmade in Britain ... but struggling now ... even his footy team is 60% African ...?

Come on you lot: if you want British jobs, you gotta buy British goods

British beer is the best there is.

I always buy British if I can or can afford it.

[Two_Sheds]

So what do we still manufacture in Great Britain ?

Looking round the 'ouse, I can see

- beer
- cheese
- sofas
- bacon
- seeds
- books
- greenhouses

... you'll have to look for more yerself, I'm off to bedski

[reetnproper]

So what do we still manufacture in Great Britain ?

Yobs and layabouts

[reetnproper]

So what do we still manufacture in Great Britain ?

My OH has just pointed out that the VERY EXPENSIVE (he's sitting beside me ) chassis that we've bought for his other woman - a Series Landy - has been manufactured in Britain and is made from British Steel made at the local steelworks (although that's now owned by an Indian firm).

Reet
x

[Madasafish]

We manufacture about 2 million cars/year.

One of the world's top arms manufacturers. (BAE)

[Glutton4...]

My OH has just pointed out that the VERY EXPENSIVE (he's sitting beside me ) chassis that we've bought for his other woman - a Series Landy - has been manufactured in Britain and is made from British Steel made at the local steelworks (although that's now owned by an Indian firm).

Reet
x

LOL - I'm married to one of those too!

[buzzingtalk]

There are going to be an awful lot of jobs down in London soon, once the cuts happen and people can no longer afford 'social housing' rent which will be at 80% of private rental prices locally for new council house claimants.

A bit of maths here:

My mum is on council. She earns sod all, and her rent for her council place is around £120 a week. Most of her montly wage is spent on rent, council tax and bills (which are all METERED as the companies will not let council tenants go onto monthly bills due to some people doing a runner - fair play, but people like my mum pay their bills on time every month for the last 15 years!). There is no more oppurtunity for better earnings in her existing job due to it being in retail which is suffereing a decline as cuts tighten people's budgets.

Locally, a similar sized place will set you back £600 a WEEK. My mum could downgrade, but even a 1 bedroom flat in our area is around £900 a month. This is disguisting - you could have a 1 bedroom flat above a fish and chip shop in London for £900 (I know this, as my freind actually pays this for that exact flat) or you can have my WHOLE HOUSE, 4 stories of it, in Norwich for less.

How are people that are going to rely on social housing in the future expected to pay up to 80% of private rental costs - the whole reason social housing is there is to support poeple that cannot afford to rent their own place. London is going to be a place where only the rich, and current council tenants can live. For some, moving out of London and relocating somewhere cheaper (where standards of living are probably better in some cases) will be easy - young, single people with skills that make it easy to find work will not struggle. But families, carers, people with specific jobs that require them to stay in a certain area, are going to struggle.

I am thankful every day that I am young, have a very strong CV and good work ethic and 3 work references that will bend over backwards and give me the best reference they could possibly give.

[lindyloo]

and the impact of all the displaced people from london will mean that the areas where they move to will be overburdened, and have less jobs available in ratio to persons seeking work, AND the rents will no doubt go up in that area, because of demand.

the gov. really has to address the issue of not enough housing, as a starting point.

interesting to see on c.4 news last night that nick clegg got a bit P--ed of when a back bencher likened the exodus out of london, as going the way of ethnic cleansing. not sure i would go that far, but heartened to see that others are likening some of the planned cuts and media as similar to what went wrong in europe before ww2

however , i was shocked that the proposed limit to housing benefit is 20,000 per year. i didnt realize it was so shockingly high, and that they haven't yet twigged that building some cheap housing-- even prefabs, or dormitory living as twosheds mentioned, is a far cheaper and effective solution..

[buzzingtalk]

20,000???

What are they helping people rent, penthouses???

That is ludicrous. But then, with rental prices so high I bet that if lots of people lost their jobs they would not be supported to keep their house. I'm crap at maths - so what is that per month? abour 1500 a month? That sounds a lot, but consider a large family living in zone 2/3 of London...if a one bedroom flat round my way is £900 a month then I can easily see the rental price for an average sized family home coming in at over £1500. A 4 bedroom family house where I am from probably costs around 2k a month rent, and I know working class people living in such houses as well as the middle classes.

I'm not saying that I agree with the high limit in such times, but that puts a lot of people in London in trouble. I know of working class people who just want a decent home for their family, even if it means having no money on the side - and these people, should they face job losses, will be screwed, as well as many of the middle class people who have worked hard to get to that position too.

If only the government could agree that this is a problem, and recognise the solution - build more affordable housing and stop selling off council houses, then something might come good of the situation. But either way, there is not enough money to build that many houses before the cuts begin to require people to move into more affordable places.

More housing co-ops would be great for singletons/young couples - there is one in Cambridge that is great, I know lots of people that live there, it's very cheap and affordable and within walking distance to the city. The rooms, generally, are spacious and they have communal gardens and large kitchens and some off-street parking. I'm sure that many young people now would feel like such housing would be a great oppurtunity to enter the rental market, and for many of the uni graduates who are struggling to find a job I am sure it wouldn't be a problem going back to dorm-style living for the sake of their independance.

[Madasafish]

"that building some cheap housing-- even prefabs, or dormitory living as twosheds mentioned, is a far cheaper and effective solution.. "

Building regs - insulation etc - as brought in by the last Government - coupled with rising materaial prices mean no new housing is cheap. Nor is land..

MPs are protesting that the £400 per week limit is too low!

" but heartened to see that others are likening some of the planned cuts and media as similar to what went wrong in europe before ww2"

When you start making that sort of comparison, I lose interest.